Locals sending guitars to at-risk girl’s rescue in Thailand

Metronome Music owner Larry Miller tunes one of the 10 guitars that will travel to Thailand this week as a part of longtime customer David Atkins’ Sending Hope International initiative to rescue young girls at risk of sex trafficking.
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MANSFIELD – Girls rescued from hill tribes in northern Thailand don’t have a lot of things when they first come to Sending Hope International, like an education, citizenship, sometimes even parents.

But they will have music thanks to the American-sponsored ministry.

Ten guitars are on their way to the country today thanks to Mansfielders David Atkins, Sending Hope International founder, and Larry Miller, Metronome Music Inc. owner. Miller partnered with Yamaha to donate 10 7/8-size classic guitars, extra nylon strings and tuners to the organization.

Atkins boards a plane with the cargo today for a one-month stay at his facility in Thailand.

“He’s really doing something for children that will change their lives,” Miller said of his longtime customer. “This isn’t the end. We definitely want to stay involved.”

For the past four years, Atkins has been funding a Thai boarding school of sorts that intervenes to save young girls at risk of sex trafficking, a forced servitude where currency is prostitution rather than labor. He gives them a safe home, buys their citizenship, sends them to school, teaches them Christianity, English and life skills, and encourages their interest in music.

On paper the hill tribes exude a picturesque culture: they live in primitive huts, segregated from the rest of society and even other tribes, and eat only what they can raise and grow in the mountains. But their lifestyle comes at a price.

Their country doesn’t recognize them as citizens, making it impossible for them to get an education, travel to a new country or earn a living for their family, Atkins explained. Their children are trapped, he said.

Disease, childbirth and starvation ravage the adult women, and men are often shot dead while running drugs across the border as a way to earn money, albeit illegal. Children are left orphaned or abandoned by choice, he said — by law, a woman who remarries must leave her children behind to pursue a new life.

Some of the lucky children are taken in by relatives already struggling to feed their own families. In desperation, many turn to crafty recruiters for help.

Recruiters bring money and liquor and coerce families to give up their young girls in exchange for promises of riches and a better life for their daughters. But what actually happens is their young are thrown in brothels and forced to prostitute themselves until they’re of no more use or likely die of HIV.

Many families have started contacting Atkins when recruiters come sniffing. It separates the family, though they can visit the complex if able, but gives the girls a chance at a better life, Atkins said.

A musician himself, Atkins has been teaching the girls music as a way to express themselves during down time. Nearly all pictures and videos on the ministry’s website include children singing, strumming and dancing.

“They love it,” Atkins said. “It’s not uncommon to see girls sit for three hours and practice.”

To continue Atkins’ charge, Miller is also offering free repairs on any guitars residents donate to send overseas. Guitars can be dropped off at Metronome Music, 40 S. Trimble Road.

Residents can also help by sponsoring a child, Atkins said. Rescues cost roughly $280 per child per month, he said.

“We can’t rescue girls unless we have money,” Atkins said.

The organization recently bought land in Cambodia to build a similar home and camp for girls there, Atkins said. They already have an operation in the works in Canada; it will start accepting girls in April, he said.

Right now, the organization can only afford to take in females, who are the most at risk, but eventually Atkins would like to see them help young males as well. He is able to accept boys at the Bible and English camps he hosts every summer.

“It’s kind of like Boy Scouts,” Atkins said. “We’re training them to be leaders. The strategy is to reinvest them in their country.”

For more information on the ministry or to contact Atkins, visit http://sendinghope.net.